Dr.Mutant wrote:
After I call the electrician, what will s/he actually do to upgrade
the service in my house to 200A ? Other than change the master
breaker, does anything else happen with the panel, or anything go on
between the house and the pole? Among other things I'm tired of lights
briefly dimming when the furnace or the clothes washer or the
dishwasher or my wife makes demands (oops, did I say that out loud?).
Thanks.

Dr. M


The minimum is likely to be: obtain a permit, get the service shut off
at the pole, pull out the electric meter, run much larger conductors
from the meter enclosure to wherever the utility service attaches
(underground to the pole or transformer, or up to a weatherhead for
overhead wires), run much larger conductors from the meter to the
service panel, replace the service panel, reattach all the existing
circuits, have the inspector look it all over, call the utility company
to reinstall the meter and connect to their service.

Moving the old circuits to a new service panel may force you to bring
them up to current code.

The much larger conductors will need a 2" raceway and you probably have
1 1/4" conduit for a 100A service, unless your service uses service
entrance cable w/o a raceway. You might consider upgrading to a 150A
service because you can reuse a 1 1/4" (or larger) service conduit and
just pull the larger wires.

You might also consider putting a 200A panel right next to your exising
panel and connecting them together with a short 2" pipe nipple and
locknuts. Leave all the 15A and 20A in the old panel and just move the
30A and larger circuits to the new panel. That's what I did, and it
allowed me to do most of the work before I disconnected the old service.

Best regards,
Bob